E3 vs E30

swintonphoto · January 7, 2009

The price point on the new E30 will be about the same as the current price of the E3. Anyone have any thoughts on which would be a better choice at this point?

NikonsandVstroms · January 7, 2009

swintonphoto wrote:

The price point on the new E30 will be about the same as the current price of the E3. Anyone have any thoughts on which would be a better choice at this point?

The E-30 is better in every way except a slightly smaller viewfinder and no weather sealing. So if either of those are deal breakers go for the E-3, but if you don't take the camera in harsh conditions the 30 is a better choice.

Personally my debate is D700 VS E-30+glass I still haven't held the 30 so I can't say anything about the ergonomics but I should have some more detailed impressions by next week when I make my purchase.

swintonphoto · January 7, 2009

NikonsandVstroms wrote:

I should have some more detailed impressions by next week when I make my purchase.

Sweet! I'm jealous! Let me know how it goes.

Just FYI, here are some reviews:
http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/43/e30-pre.html
http://www.biofos.com/esystem/e30_tst.html
http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/20901/olympus-e30-review/

Art Scott · January 7, 2009

swintonphoto wrote:

The price point on the new E30 will be about the same as the current price of the E3. Anyone have any thoughts on which would be a better choice at this point?

I thought YOU were the god of knowledge when it came to Olympus.........

ziggy53 · January 7, 2009

If you can, wait to see how the E30 performs with the SWD lenses and if there is a difference in low-light performance between the 2 cameras. (The E30 does seem to be using the same AF system and processor as the E3, so I would not expect surprises.)

I think you would appreciate the extra potential cropping capability of the E30 and the larger display. The E30 also has focus tuning adjustments for up to 20 lenses.

The E3 has a better viewfinder (100% vs 98% on the E30). The E3 is a proven camera.

Any idea about shutter durability? (I'm hearing 100,000 for the E30 vs 150,000 for the E3, but I could not confirm this about the E30.) They both provide the same 1/8000th top speed and 1/250th flash sync which would seem to indicate they are primarily similar.

Art Scott · January 7, 2009

I see now that some of Sigma's popular lenses are being made available for the 4/3 mount......Bigma beomes 100-1000 with out a teleconverter.......the famed 70-200 f2.8 = 140-400 f2.8.......whoooooooa Nellie......I am liking this a lot..............

kini62 · January 7, 2009

And the Sigmonster becomes a 600-1600:jawdrop

I'm looking at going back into the Olympus fold. Currently the package deal on the E-3 is really good.

E-3, 12-60 and FL50R for $1920 at Amazon with free shipping!

According to some of the previews and reviews the AF algorythms or processor has been tweaked on the E-30.

Gene

Art Scott · January 7, 2009

kini62 wrote:

And the Sigmonster becomes a 600-1600:jawdrop

I'm looking at going back into the Olympus fold. Currently the package deal on the E-3 is really good.

E-3, 12-60 and FL50R for $1920 at Amazon with free shipping!

According to some of the previews and reviews the AF algorythms or processor has been tweaked on the E-30.

Gene

Actually the SigMonster (at a mere $9900msrp) was the first that i saw when using the lens requirment tool at Siggy USA........so I went hunting thru what I use the most...........

If only I could embed GPS in the exif from camera when shooting......

swintonphoto · January 7, 2009

Art Scott wrote:

I thought YOU were the god of knowledge when it came to Olympus.........

Hahaha - thanks Art. I try to know just about everything Olympus, but I thought this could be an interesting discussion point. I am curious for opinions.

swintonphoto · January 7, 2009

Art Scott wrote:

I see now that some of Sigma's popular lenses are being made available for the 4/3 mount......Bigma beomes 100-1000 with out a teleconverter.......the famed 70-200 f2.8 = 140-400 f2.8.......whoooooooa Nellie......I am liking this a lot..............

Indeed they are! I actually own the 10-20 Siggy. Works great. This link shows what sigma lenses are currently available in 4/3:
http://www.four-thirds.org/en/products/lense.html
I may convert you yet!

anwmn1 · January 7, 2009

I am interested to hear what others think as well. Truth be told I am actually now pondering making a switch away from Olympus. I would like to see some real low light shots like bands- night landscapes- etc. with the E-3 and E30. That has been my biggest frustration with Oly to this point.

Also -is the FL50R better than the FL50 in low light situations or does it simply add the in camera funtion w/ the E3? I find the FL50 doesn't put out a bright enough target for the E500 to pick up when shooting some low light wedding and party stuff.

If these are both resolved with upgrading than I will gladly stay- otherwise Canon might be getting my future investments.

Art Scott · January 7, 2009

swintonphoto wrote:

I may convert you yet!

If the low light (high ISO is really good on the E30 or E3 that would dang near sway me....if it had a gps socket (as the upper nikons : from D90 up) have that would be closer to making my mind do a switch.......now if the upper end p/s had a true floating focus point (like my KM A2) then I would be all over them in a NY second:D:D

With the out of way place I like to go shoot, I really want to be able to have gps coordinates placed into the exif at time of shooting and not having to mess with run a lot of extra software to do it later..........but image quality of low light situations is more important as I could always buy into nikon and just make a landscape kit and shoot Oly for everything else.......I know for portraits and weddings they are great as I ahve seen YOUR work and no self-respecting photog would place their livilyhood into the hands of a second rate camera company........so you have my trust on how good OLY is......:D

swintonphoto · January 7, 2009

anwmn1 wrote:

I am interested to hear what others think as well. Truth be told I am actually now pondering making a switch away from Olympus. I would like to see some real low light shots like bands- night landscapes- etc. with the E-3 and E30. That has been my biggest frustration with Oly to this point.

Also -is the FL50R better than the FL50 in low light situations or does it simply add the in camera funtion w/ the E3? I find the FL50 doesn't put out a bright enough target for the E500 to pick up when shooting some low light wedding and party stuff.

If these are both resolved with upgrading than I will gladly stay- otherwise Canon might be getting my future investments.

While I can't speak to the lowlight shots from the E-3 and E-30, I am certain they are better than the E-500 gets. I have an E-500 and love it, but my E-510 does much better with noise, and reviews say the E-3 is much better than the E-510. The E-3 or E-30 would likely solve the low-light focus issues you are wanting fixed as well. In terms of flash output, the FL50 is as bright as a any of its competitors. So if it is flash power thats the problem, the other camps won't solve that.

anwmn1 · January 8, 2009

swintonphoto wrote:

While I can't speak to the lowlight shots from the E-3 and E-30, I am certain they are better than the E-500 gets. I have an E-500 and love it, but my E-510 does much better with noise, and reviews say the E-3 is much better than the E-510. The E-3 or E-30 would likely solve the low-light focus issues you are wanting fixed as well. In terms of flash output, the FL50 is as bright as a any of its competitors. So if it is flash power thats the problem, the other camps won't solve that.

It is not the flash output that is the problem it is the quick flash of light thru the red lens (sorry-I don't know what that is called

) to help the camera focus that is the issue. I shot 2nd for a guy w/ Nikon and we did a side by side test. His red beam was 2 to 3 times brighter than the FL50.
The FL50 seems to burn up batteries faster than the competitors too- (again from shooting the same event). Not as big an issue but still annoying!

Internaut · January 11, 2009

Unless you need 100%VF + weather sealing, the E-30 looks like a better choice. Olympus and Panasonic seem to be managing to up the mega pixels a little without compromising on noise and DR. Being the latest and greatest, the E-30 also has some neat new features; notably an electronic spirit level. Also, if you're a JPEG shooter, you get the latest and greatest version of Olympus's very nice JPEG processing.

That said, my Panasonic G1 has 100% VF coverage and it is nice to be able to fill that frame with my eye to the view finder and think of cropping or not there and then, not later when it might surprise me with a compromise I don't want to make.

swintonphoto · January 11, 2009

ziggy53 wrote:

Any idea about shutter durability? (I'm hearing 100,000 for the E30 vs 150,000 for the E3, but I could not confirm this about the E30.)

Everything I can find confirms this as well.

NikonsandVstroms · January 12, 2009

Internaut wrote:

Unless you need 100%VF + weather sealing, the E-30 looks like a better choice. Olympus and Panasonic seem to be managing to up the mega pixels a little without compromising on noise and DR. Being the latest and greatest, the E-30 also has some neat new features; notably an electronic spirit level. Also, if you're a JPEG shooter, you get the latest and greatest version of Olympus's very nice JPEG processing.

That said, my Panasonic G1 has 100% VF coverage and it is nice to be able to fill that frame with my eye to the view finder and think of cropping or not there and then, not later when it might surprise me with a compromise I don't want to make.

there's one issue I have, unlike the E3 you can get a grid screen for the 30, while the spirit level is definitely a nice thing. It's only for one axis, and with my time on the S5 Pro I've grown to love the grid

I must also say, many of the images coming out from the first batch of these cameras are great.

swintonphoto · January 12, 2009

Another thought - You can find used E-3's right now for around $1000.

Anyone have a thousand bucks they want to give me?

Glory2Jesus4Photography · January 13, 2009

ziggy53 wrote:

If you can, wait to see how the E30 performs with the SWD lenses and if there is a difference in low-light performance between the 2 cameras. (The E30 does seem to be using the same AF system and processor as the E3, so I would not expect surprises.)

I think you would appreciate the extra potential cropping capability of the E30 and the larger display. The E30 also has focus tuning adjustments for up to 20 lenses.

The E3 has a better viewfinder (100% vs 98% on the E30). The E3 is a proven camera.

Any idea about shutter durability? (I'm hearing 100,000 for the E30 vs 150,000 for the E3, but I could not confirm this about the E30.) They both provide the same 1/8000th top speed and 1/250th flash sync which would seem to indicate they are primarily similar.

Just to answer a few quick questions that I can and give some incite.
The Af will have the ability to be more accurate do to the ability to fine tune up to 20 lenses, Speed will be almost identical to the E3(Average user will not be able to tell a difference). The VF is very similar to that of the E1.
Shutter rating will only be 85,000 for the E30 vs the 150,000 of the E3. Processing will be handled with a slight difference the noise will not be as fine as the E3 However the E30 does have a little more DR.
some of the live view focusing will get the best results with lenses such as the 14-54 II and the

E3 vs E30

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